Back in the day, when you played Little League baseball, there was always one team in the league that took your team out to the woodshed—at least if your league was anything like the league I played in. You knew they were better and there wasn’t much you could do about it. But if you played the team ten times, there was always the hope that you might catch them on an off day while your best hitter was having a big day and you'd sneak out a win.

The Royals entered the game this afternoon 0-9 against the Angels this season. They are simply better than the Royals and there’s little we can do about it. But today Billy Butler hit two home runs. And Kyle Davies was good enough (with the exception of the six walks). The bullpen didn’t blow the lead. Trey Hillman was able to hand the ball to Joakim Soria in the ninth inning instead of the eighth. And finally, the Royals took a game from the Angels.

In the post game interview, Billy Butler looked a little sheepish when talking about the way the Royals have been playing. I was glad to see that because it’s shows how uncomfortable he is with losing. He went on to say, “We’re not giving up. I don’t know what the perception is, but I want to tell the fans that we’re not giving up. We’re trying to battle every day. We’re trying to (play well) in the last month and carry that into next season.”

I can’t speak for the fans in general regarding their perception. But if I had to guess, I’d say that it has less to do with the team giving up and more to do with being perplexed about the lack of talent on the current roster, given the amount of money David Glass has spent. According to ESPN, the Royals have the fifteenth highest payroll in baseball at $81.3 million, but they have the worst record in the AL, which means the following AL teams are doing more with less money: Texas, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Cleveland, Baltimore, and Oakland. I’m just sayin’.

Just found out the Bob Dutton is on Twitter, so I added him to the Royals Twitter Directory. Check it out if you haven’t seen it in a while; the directory continues to grow.

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Royal Reflections Podcast

Join Lee as he hosts Royals fans on the Royal Reflections podcast to discuss how they became Royal fans, some of their favorite Royal memories, and their thoughts about the current roster. Lee may also periodically interview print or broadcast journalists about the Royals.

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